Tag Archives: Video Game History

Playing with Heavy Rain: The Gamepad and Personal Knowledge

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Erik Bigras

Immersion has long been held in popular thought as one of the defining characteristics of video games (Keogh, 2013). A good game, to many, is one where they can lose themselves within the game and its narrative. Such escapist understandings … Continue reading →

Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras | Tagged Gamepad, Heavy Rain, Immersion, Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge, Proprioception, Tacit Knowledge, Video Game History | Comments Off

Coopted Access: The Rise of the Shooter in Video Game Design

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Erik Bigras

This post revolves around a series of paradoxes. Within the realm of information technology, access often is understood as something that should be promoted. However, within the realms of information technologies, increased access often has led to increased centralization. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras | Tagged Abandonware, Access, Ethics, FPS, Free Software Foundation, Game design, Game Mechanics, Home of the Underdogs, HOTU, id Software, John Carmack, Militarization, Morality, Open Access, Shooter, Video Game History, Wolfenstein | Comments Off

A Severed Prosthetic Memory by NBA 2K14

Posted on April 25, 2014 by LCooke

The discourse of representation, stereotypes, and racism surrounding video games is fraught, and quite frankly not at all progressive. During “black history month,” I took notice to the number of my Facebook feeds that posted the obligatory Black History Month topics, … Continue reading →

Posted in Criticism, Laquana Cooke | Tagged Alison Landsberg, and racism, Bill Russell, black history, black history month, Celtics, Chuck Cooper, Civil Rights Movement, Doris Burke, game criticism, Game design, Game Mechanics, Gender, Hall of Fame, Harlan, inequalities, Jerry West, Kellogg, Lakers, MLK, NBA, nba 2k, nba 2k14, NBA Playoffs, prejudices, prosthetic memory, ps3, Representation, stereotypes, Steve Kerr, Video Game History, Video games, Wilt Chamberlain, Xbox One | 1 Comment

A Vulnerable Retrospective: Desolation Games

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Erik Bigras

Welcome to a Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! Retrospectives can take many forms: some focus on a single franchise while others are more expansive. For these retrospectives, I’ll be taking the latter approach. These retrospectives aren’t meant to be best-of … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras | Tagged 7 Days to Die, Affect, Choice, D&D, Dark Sun, Dayz, Despair, Dune, Emotions, Emptiness, Fallout, Game design, Game Mechanics, Guilt, Kenshi, Loneliness, MechWarrior, New Vegas, Open World, Remorse, Rust, SEAL Team, Story, Twilight: 2000, Video Game History, Video games | 3 Comments

Extremism as a Narrative Device

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Erik Bigras

Playing DayZ has allowed me to reflect on extremism a little bit. DayZ appears to be a game that fosters a plethora of extremes: one is either an extremist bad guy (I’ll kill everyone!), an extremist good guy (I’ll kill … Continue reading →

Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras | Tagged A Rape in Cyberspace, Bioshock, BioShock Infinite, Call of Duty, Comment Culture, Dayz, DayZ Standalone, Extremism, Fascism, Frantz Fanon, Game design, Julian Dibbell, Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, Morality, Narrative Device, Skyrim, Story, The Elder Scrolls, Video Game History, Video games, Walter Benjamin, Wilhelm Reich | 3 Comments

The ESRB Isn’t There for Us

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Erik Bigras

Some weeks ago, Gaines and I wrote about GTA 5 in what would become our most popular post. Among the comments, a particular trend began to emerge, namely invoking the ESRB as a method of parental control. It’s that particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras | Tagged Compliance, Doom, ESRB, Hays Code, Medieval guilds, Mortal Kombat, MPAA, Parental Advisory, Participatory design, PMRC, Professions, RIAA, Self-regulation, Video Game History, Video games | Comments Off

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 4: Space

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Erik Bigras

Welcome to the fourth and final part of this Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! For these Retrospectives, I’ll take a broad approach to examine some of the tropes of particular game genres, their historical contexts, provide some examples, as well … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras | Tagged Doom, Flight Simulation, Freelancer, FreeSpace 2, Game Mechanics, Games and cultural change, Historicity, Nature of games criticism, Open World, Rogue Squadron II, Space Simulation, Story, Video Game History, Video games, Wing Commander | 3 Comments

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 3: Submarines

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Erik Bigras

Welcome to Part 3 of this Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! For these Retrospectives, I’ll take a broad approach to examine some of the tropes of particular game genres, their historical contexts, provide some examples, as well as explore why … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras | Tagged 688 Attack Sub, Aces of the Deep, Cold War, Depth charge, Destroyer, First World War, Gulf War, Second World War, Silent Hunter, Sonar, Submarine, Submarine Simulation, Subsim, U-Boat, Video Game History, Video games, World War 1, World War 2 | 4 Comments

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 2: The Old West

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Erik Bigras

Welcome to Part 2 of this Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! For these Retrospectives, I’ll take a broad approach to examine some of the tropes of particular game genres, their historical contexts, provide some examples, as well as explore why … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras | Tagged American Indians, Bound in Blood, Call of Juarez, Duel, Feminism, First Nations, Foucault, Game Mechanics, Gun, Gunslinger, Indians, Mad Dog McCree, Man with No Name, Michel Foucault, Native Americans, Old West, Open World, pistolero, Red Dead Redemption, Revisionism, Revisionist Western, Sergio Leone, Six-shooter, Spaghetti Western, Story, Video Game History, Video games, Western | 3 Comments

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 1: Pirates

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Erik Bigras

Welcome to a Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! Retrospectives can take many forms: some focus on a single franchise while others take a more expansive approach. For these retrospectives, I’ll be taking the latter approach. These retrospectives aren’t meant to … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras | Tagged Assassin's Creed 4, Black Flag, Bruno Latour, Edward Saïd, Errol Flynn, Feminism, Game Mechanics, Gender, Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective, Hollywood pirates, Open World, Pirate simulation, Pirates!, Sandbox, Sea Dogs, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Simulations, Thomas Hobbes, Uncharted Waters, Video Game History, Video games | 4 Comments

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Tag Archives: Video Game History

Playing with Heavy Rain: The Gamepad and Personal Knowledge

Coopted Access: The Rise of the Shooter in Video Game Design

A Severed Prosthetic Memory by NBA 2K14

A Vulnerable Retrospective: Desolation Games

Extremism as a Narrative Device

The ESRB Isn’t There for Us

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 4: Space

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 3: Submarines

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 2: The Old West

A Simulated Retrospective, Part 1: Pirates

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